DNR: Waters murkiest since 2006 ahead of sturgeon spearing season

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin photographer Doug Raflik took to the skies to photograph sturgeon spearing from above. This is a time lapse of his one hour flight compressed into two minutes.
Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

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Sturgeon spearers and interested on-lookers gathered at Wendt's On The Lake during the first day of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season. Saturday February 11, 2017. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin(Photo: Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

Koenig's report in early January indicated water clarity averaged nine feet on Lake Winnebago, but conditions have worsened quite a bit since then.

Water clarity on Lake Winnebago going into the 2018 sturgeon spearing season, is reported to be murky this year. Lack of water clarity should cause the season to run a full 16 days, says Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources sturgeon biologist Ryan Koenigs.(Photo: Courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)

Clarity is now ranging from three to nine feet, with an average of six feet, five inches of visibility, Koenigs said.

"Looking back through past years of data, the current reading marks the worst water clarity since the 2006 season," he said. "It appears that the clearer water is generally along the east and north shores, which is not abnormal."

Clarity on the Upriver Lakes is better. There are spots were technicians could see to the bottom of the lake, including one location that was eight feet, six inches deep, Koenigs said.

"Our observations over the lasttwo days confirms what I have been hearing from spearers for the past couple of weeks. Dirty water on Lake Winnebago and clearer water on the Upriver Lakes," he said.

Dirty water usually means the season will run a full sixteen days. Sturgeon spearing ends when DNR-set harvest caps are reached or the seasons runs out on Feb. 25.

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Sturgeon spearers and interested on-lookers gathered at Wendt's On The Lake during the first day of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season. Saturday February 11, 2017. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin(Photo: Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Despite less than ideal clarity conditions, Koenigs said he still anticipates a big showing of spearers taking to the ice over the weekend. Last year, more than 5,000 ice shanties were scattered across Lake Winnebago, and 847 sturgeon were harvested — a below-average harvest compared with other years.

The weather forecast has also changed, from what was supposed to be a high of 30 degrees over the weekend, to chillier temperatures. Friday night, when all the festivities begin at Sturgeon Spectacular in Fond du Lac, temperatures are expected to dip to 2 degrees below zero, with a wind chill between minus 5 to minus 15 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

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Sturgeon spearers and interested on-lookers gathered at Wendt's On The Lake during the first day of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season. Saturday February 11, 2017. Doug Raflik/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin(Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Saturday and Sunday forecasts call for daily highs between 17 and 21 degrees.

Festivities kick off Friday with a running of the sturgeon parade at 6 p.m. down Main Street, a snow-building competition downtown from 4 to 6 p.m., and ice sculpting from from 1 to 10 p.m. outside Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts.

DNR wardens said successful spearers must validate their tags by removing the validation stub. The sturgeon carcass tag is only required to be attached to the sturgeon if the spearer leaves the sturgeon prior to registration.

It is illegal to possess more than one sturgeon carcass tag or the tag of another while spearing.

In person registration is still required. Spearers have until 2 p.m. the day of harvest to register their sturgeon.